hi,
a gandy dancer, train workers who lay and repair rails use a tool call a gandy, basically a specialized oversized crowbar... use to move the rails inplace..... well those rails are pretty heavy and it would some times take several men, working in unison to move the rail all at once... now men would generally be singing a little tune to help them syncronize there work with other.. over time these men would be called gandy dancers..... ie; there singing and moving!

now your next question is probably where did the tool name gandy come from? smile... that I don't know.....!! nor does any one else... there a lot of theories..... but no facts... it lost in history on where the name came from...

hi,
a gandy dancer, train workers who lay and repair rails use a tool call a gandy, basically a specialized oversized crowbar... use to move the rails inplace..... well those rails are pretty heavy and it would some times take several men, working in unison to move the rail all at once... now men would generally be singing a little tune to help them syncronize there work with other.. over time these men would be called gandy dancers..... ie; there singing and moving!

now your next question is probably where did the tool name gandy come from? smile... that I don't know.....!! nor does any one else... there a lot of theories..... but no facts... it lost in history on where the name came from...

Very incisive reply.

Actually I knew the answer, and just wanted to see how many here did.

A singer by the name of Frankie Laine, years ago, had a hit recording called "The Gandy Dancers Ball." That's where I first became familiar with the term.

The generally accepted origin of the term came from the tool which was manufactured by the Gandy Tool Co.of Chicago. The "dancer" part, from the rhythm of the team of men pulling together to move the rails in place. Machines have long since taken over their jobs.